Question

What is an ecosystem service? List any four important ecosystem services provided by the natural ecosystems. Are you in favor or against levying a charge on the service provided by the ecosystem?

Answer 1

The many and varied benefits which are provided by the natural environment and healthy ecosystems for humans are known as ecosystem services. Agro-ecosystems, forest ecosystems, grassland ecosystems and aquatic ecosystems are examples of such ecosystems. These ecosystem relationships offer things like natural pollination of crops, clean air, extreme weather mitigation, and human mental and physical well-being which functions in a healthy relationship.

Complete answer:
The direct and indirect contributions of ecosystems for the well-being of humans are known as ecosystem services. The concept of ecosystem services was originally developed to demonstrate the benefits which the natural ecosystem generates for society and also to raise awareness for biodiversity and ecosystem conservation.
Some of the important ecosystem services provided by natural ecosystems are as follows:
i. Air and water purification: Forests are natural ecosystems which purify both air and water.
ii. Provides wildlife habitat: It provides both habitat and food to wildlife.
iii. Drought and flood mitigation.
iv. Nutrient cycling
v. Fertile soil generation
vi. Biodiversity maintenance
vii. Crop pollination
Robert Constanza and his colleagues once tried to put price tags on life support services of nature. It resulted in about US $\$ 33$ trillion a year. So, if anyone tries to levy a charge on the service provided by the ecosystem, it would be unbearable to pay by a normal human being. Although no one is in favor of levying a charge on this service provided, it is important for us to understand how much nature is providing for free and if we overuse or misuse its resources, we all will have to pay a heavy price for it.

Note:
There are four broad categories in which ecosystem services are grouped into, which are: provisioning, such as production of food and water; regulation, such as climate and disease control; supporting, such as oxygen production and nutrient cycling; and cultural, such as recreation and spiritual benefits. Many ecosystem services are evaluated in order to draw equivalent comparisons to human engineered infrastructure and services which helps to inform decision makers.